Blue
by WonderTwinsUnite
Summary: The dress was blue and white and felt like silk under his finger tips.


**A/N:** So we're back after a long time not doing anything. We are trying to finish other things, but we have lost some interest and life is hard but we are working on it. Slowly but surely. This is our newest obsession from the tv show Once Upon A Time. This is our first time attempting this so stick with us, alright?

_Blue_

The dress was blue and white and felt like silk under his finger tips.

It wasn't elaborate, but something about its simple beauty reminded him of the girl who was at this very moment cleaning his castle. He grinned; purchasing it with some of the gold he had spun the night before and added it to his other purchases from the trip. Rumpelstiltskin would be returning to his castle tonight and that thought had never filled him with so much… _warmth_.

If there was one thing that Belle could not understand, it was why a man who spun gold could not hire someone to clean his castle. Not that she minded; even as a prisoner here, she had more freedom than in her father's home. But today she had begun cleaning one of the countless shelves of books.

With care she had removed each tome from its place, clearing them of dust before replacing them on the shelf. One book, found wedged among its fellows, did not quite fit. Next to grand tomes with leather bound spines, the small book with an old and stained cloth cover seemed personal. Without time to dwell, Belle cleaned it and returned the misfit book to its spot on the shelf.

It was later that Belle found herself returning to the curious book which had been on her mind the whole afternoon. She whisked it away to her bedchamber for further study.

It was nearing dinner when he opened the front gates of his castle, entering without a thought. The magic humming in his veins seemed to intensify just a little at the familiar surroundings and his posture eased as he shut the gates behind him. There was a light on in one of the rooms and his curiosity was immediately piqued.

Rumpelstiltskin knew which room it was, of course, it was _her room_. It was easy to slip into his castle unnoticed and head toward the room on the third floor. He had given it too her not long after her arrival, forgoing the dungeon when he realized she wasn't really afraid of him. He counted each step, noticed the lack of dust on each surface, and felt the weight of the dress against his back as he reached her room.

Only manners, what little he had, prevented him from entering without first knocking. He didn't introduce himself.

He didn't have to.

As she leafed through the odd book, Belle found herself pleasantly surprised. It was a book which would have belonged to a child. But why did Rumpelstiltskin have it? Her odd companion didn't seem one for books full of fairy tales and happy endings.

Though she entertained that new puzzlement, the book was just begging for Belle to read it. And in the pages she found fantastic stories with the most wonderful things: far off places, hideous ogres, sword fights, and magical spells.

Slightly startled by the knocking sound, Belle knew who waited at her door: Rumpelstiltskin. She quickly slid the book under a pillow, feeling some shame at her snooping. Nonetheless, she rose and opened the door with a smile, "You're back."

"Were you expecting someone else, dearie?" he asked, looking over her shoulder to see that her bed looked recently vacated. Rumpelstiltskin shifted, drawing his eyes back to the girl in front of him once more. Even in the plain gown she wore Belle was… a sight to behold.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable he started to remove the pack from his back, thinking of just how she would look in her new dress.

"Of course not," she replied, blushing slightly. It was disconcerting to find that she'd missed his strange brand of company while he'd been away. It wasn't just that he was her only companion, but she'd grown to like him.

"How was the market?"

_She was blushing_.

That fact distracted him for a moment. _She was blushing_.

Rumpelstiltskin took the parcel from his pack, setting the latter down by his feet after a moment. "Busy, as one should expect."

He thought of the dress, how fitting it would look on her, before he held the package out for her to take. "Something you might like, I suppose."

His wit made her smile but Belle couldn't help that her curiosity was piqued when Rumpelstiltskin set down his pack. A parcel taken from the pack only increased her interest.

"For me? You shouldn't have," she mumbled, ducking her head to watch the brown paper her fingers danced over. Her earlier curiosity was not held off for long, even by being flustered. She opened the package carefully, and gasped at the contents.

After a moment Belle looked up with a wide smile. "This is beautiful."

He tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement before stepping past her into the room. It looked empty, but not in the way one would expect. It wasn't bare, of course, there were furnishings and other things of the sort, but there was nothing that made the room feel at all like it belonged to her. Perhaps he would have to fix that.

It was while Rumpelstiltskin was taking inventory that he noticed her pillow was raised just a fraction off of the bed… as if something was hidden under it. Turning to Belle, he raised an eyebrow. "Hiding things, dearie?"

"What I – " Belle then caught the direction of his gaze. "Oh."

Stepping toward the bed, she slipped her hand under the pillow. "You'll laugh or think I'm silly," Belle confessed. After all, her father and Gaston had. "I found this book on one of the shelves. It seemed out of place in your grand collection. And just begging to be read." Belle held up the book, but kept her head bowed. She never liked facing the scorn her odd habits brought, but neither would she apologize for loving books.

Silly was not a word he associated with Belle. Persistent and sometimes flamboyant, if truth be told, but never _silly_. Rumpelstiltskin observed her for a moment, watching the way she avoided his eyes, before he actually spared a glance at the book.

The cover broke his heart all over again. It was well worn and somewhat damaged, but that was to be expected when the book had first belonged to a two year old little boy who loved to listen to his father read stories about heroes and princesses and lands far, far away.

It was a book of happily ever after.

It was Bae's book.

Gathering himself, he looked away from the book and at the top of her head instead. "Childish fairytales, is it? Funny, dearie, I never would have thought of you as the type who enjoyed reading about damsels in distress."

Funny. She'd been called that before. A funny girl is what people in the village had called her, and it would have been worse if her father weren't so important. But it never got easier to hear.

"And why not," she asked, raising her chin and clutching the book to her chest. "Believing in true love and happy endings isn't just for children. Stories help us deal with our world, when it doesn't make sense. How is that childish?"

Once upon a time he was a man, a real man, who had believed that perhaps he could obtain a happy ending for himself and his son. The fact that he was standing in this castle with naught but her in front of him was his own proof that happily ever after was just a ruse.

"Happy endings aren't real. You of all people should know that," he replied, gesturing around him to the room, the castle… himself. Rumpelstiltskin grinned wide, in a way that showed off his teeth and more than just a little bit of the craziness that lurked inside the thing he had become.

"Why?" she pressed again, feeling more sure of herself. "Two months ago I lived in a dungeon. A month before that Papa told me I was betrothed. It may not be happily ever after, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy." Again her head rose up, this time almost defiantly.

"And you think you can be happy in this castle with a monster, dearie?" this time his voice was quiet, but sharp in a way that he had never used with her before. There was no way that she could be happy here.

No one could be happy with him.

The tone in his voice made her pause. It almost melted her burst of courage, but not quite. "I won't live my life unhappily, so I will have to learn to be." The last of her daring dissipated, like water sinking into too dry ground.

"Here is your book," she said, all defiance having ebbed away, holding out the much abused book. "If you'll excuse me, I have to see to your supper."

Rumpelstiltskin stared at the book for a long moment before he turned away from her, grabbing his pack as he passed through the threshold. "Keep it. I have no use of it," he stated without hesitation. Belle would get more use out of that book that he ever could, so it was only fitting.

It was only after he was out of her room did he stop again, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the wall.

"Don't worry about supper, dearie. I have more important things to deal with," he stated firmly before he disappeared around the corner and down the stairs. His wheel was calling to him, after all.


End file.
